About This Art Object

The forthright and humorously earnest name of Object Design Alliance (o-d-a) reflects the nature of the work made by this young Bangkok-based design studio. Product designer Jutamas Buranajade and graphic designer Piti Amraranga (also members of the multidisciplinary design collective Good Citizen) prefer to innovate on a foundation of simple forms, giving a conventional straightback chair a couple of strategically placed diagonal lines and calling it NRML or identifying a table and chair pair by cutting the seat of the chair out of the tabletop. It was this design, Cling, that earned o-d-a a spot as one of 10 finalists in the 2003 Tokyo DesignersBlock competition. Two years later, Jasper Morrison awarded them the nextmaruni Grand Prix contest prize for their elegantly minimal armchair, Taste of Tea. Making a ceramic bowl out of a cluster of smaller ceramic bowls, as they have with Big Bowl Small, demonstrates the playful reinvention that marks the studio as notable.